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The spokesman of Cardinal Danneels, Toon Osaer, said Sunday he disagreed with the Pope and there was a structural problem within the Church. Saying that he spoke on his own behalf, Mr. Osaer said the Church was able to pose critical questions.

"I do not agree with the pope when he says there is no structural problem. Each institution, certainly when it has 2000 years of history, must dare to pose critical questions . The institution is simply a way to communicate a message, the message of the Gospel. If it appears that there are aberrations, so I think it can be questioned," said Toon Osaer.

Pope Benedict XVI said Wednesday that the penance was more effective than structural changes to address abuse of the clergy.

Toon Osaer also deemed inadequate the action taken by the former Bishop of Bruges Roger Vangheluwe who announced Saturday that he was leaving the community of Westvleteren to reflect in all discretion on his future in a place outside the Diocese of Bruges.

"This is a first step, but it is not enough," said Toon Osaer. He believes that Roger Vangheluwe must distance himself from his ecclesiastical office. However, he does not advocate the reduction to the lay state which he said would be a "punishment" detrimental to the efforts of many laymen in the Church.

The former spokesman of Roger Vangheluwe, Mark Van de Voorde, also participated in the discussion of VRT. According to him, he would appeal to the Pope to decide on a possible sanction against the former bishop of Bruges. "It is not for Vangheluwe to decide his fate because it would give him the prerogative to determine his future and I would not give him the opportunity," he said.

The revelations of sexual abuse by Bishop Vangheluwe have been the source of a shock wave caused by the publication of the report of the Adriaenssens Ecclesiastical Commission which reports of hundreds of victims abused by priests across the Belgium, over the last fifty years. (Belga)

The spokesman of Cardinal Godfried Danneels reported Saturday that he was "shocked" to read stories of victims of pedophilia within the Church.

Possible civil actions

Walter Van Steenbrugge, a lawyer for thirty victims of sexual abuse by church people, said on Saturday that the statute of limitation on certain abuses did not prevent the conduct of litigation, including civil to obtain compensation.

"It constructs, piece by piece, stories of blatant human suffering, some of which are quite horrific." The cardinal "wishes once again to express his sincere sympathy to the victims and their families and the suffering imposed on them by people active in the Church, whose behavior is a persistent disgrace to the Church.

The Cardinal hopes that "the measures that have already been developed in recent years, both in terms of prevention and victim support (point of contact, pastoral guidelines, Commission), will be further refined. Cardinal Danneels said he was "confident that the bishops will take to heart the recommendations of the Adriaenssens Committee and will do everything necessary to help alleviate the suffering of the victims.

"This is the Dutroux case of the Church"

The publication of the damning report of the Committee Adriaenssens on pedophilia within the Church has been a bombshell on Friday. It contains hundreds of testimonies from victims of priests, nearly 500 gathered between January and June 2010. "This is the Dutroux case of the Church, " said Louvain Professor Adriaenssens during a news conference, comparing the expected impact of the report on Belgian society with the shock of the revelations of the crimes of the pedophile murderer Marc Dutroux in the mid-1990s.

BRUSSELS - The Flemish pedophile priest Eric Dejaeger , who is internationally wanted by Interpol for child abuse in Canada, is going to surrender Monday to the Prosecutor's Office in Louvain/ Leuven. He seems to have recognized his errors, even ahead of ex-bishop Roger Vangheluwe.

It was an open secret for years that the suspect resides at the Oblate Fathers in Blanden in Leuven. Dejaeger himself will go Monday to the State Prosecutor's Office in Leuven. The fathers who gave him shelter begged him to.

Dejaeger abused eight children when he worked as a missionary in Canada. He served his sentence of 18 months , but there are nine new complaints of child abuse. Canada asked three months ago, via Interpol to Belgium to extradite the priest.

Some of the conclusions of the outgoing Commission on sexual abuse. The Church is announcing a new Commission on Monday.

Two thirds of the victims were boys, girls one third. There are only 45 reports from French-speaking Belgium. 80% of the victims are now over forty years.

* On average, victims were 12 years old when the abuse started, but one was only two years old. Female victims are spread evenly across all ages, the boys are at much higher risk between 10 and 14 years.

* The testimonies show that it is not about superficial groping, but oral and anal abuse, forced and mutual masturbation.

* There is sexual abuse in all religious orders. But there is not one case committed by nuns.

* Thirteen victims committed suicide.

* Only 5% of known victims went to court.

* Half of the known offenders are already deceased.

* The events occurred between the fifties and the late eighties in boarding schools According to the Commission the abuse happened in all schools for boys. After 1985 a sharp decline in the number of known victims.

* Two out of three victims who have personally met the Commission had the facts in their youth told their parents, but almost no one was believed.

* Celibacy is rarely the cause of the sexual abuse that perpetrators commit, according to the first interviews with offenders.

The Commission recommends that in addition a discussion of the statute of limitation:

* Sexual abuse in other religions should be examined. Adriaenssens advocates a faith center for adults, not only addressing sexual abuse, but also violence.